John now shifts his message toward false teaching and truth. We will see this again in 1 John 4:1, where he makes it our obligation to weed out the false from the true. I believe it is safe to say that 1 John 2:18-29 was written as an obligation. We are to know the difference between the false and the true.
In verse 26, John writes that false teachers are trying to deceive us. What stops us from being deceived? We cannot be deceived when we know the truth, and if we should not be deceived, then it is our duty to search out the truth. It is certainly our obligation to abide in Christ, and this is contrasted here against abounding in falsehood.
Verse 19 is a warning that false teachers are in our midst. This is one of our biggest pitfalls today, not so much that there are many false teachers, but that many are falling after them. There seems to be little attempt made at discerning between the false and the true. Rather, the false message is appealing, so many seek it out and abandon truth.
The call, then, is to abide in Christ. Do we still have church leaders who deny that Jesus is the Christ? 1 John 2:22 The collection of people representing the emergent church today embody the false teachers John is warning against. There are others as well, but the emergent church is doing great harm to the church. The deception, falsehood, and pride found in their writings and teachings represent a most dangerous false teaching.
Down through the centuries, the church has dealt with false teaching like this, and it is incumbent upon us in every generation to identify and refuse such false teaching.
Rather, let us abide in Christ. 1 John 2:24-29 As falsehood, lust and pride lead to death, let us pursue the righteousness of God, imitation of Christ, and Christian perfection which lead to life. When we abide in Christ, we have no need of falling after false teachers. 1 John 2:27 In humility, we subject ourselves to Christ and learn from Him. In imitating Christ, we also have a teacher after whom we can order our lives.
We’ll close with an important truth. The false teacher will bear responsibility for distorting the gospel. However, each believer has a responsibility to abide in Christ. No one standing before Christ in the last day will be able to rely on the excuse that they were misled by false teaching. As harmful as it is in the church and as much damage as false teaching causes, we still must answer the question, “What did you do with Christ?”
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